The iPhone 15 Pro models will feature two additional Taptic Engines to achieve a "buttonless design," recent reports claim.
The Taptic Engine in the iPhone 6S – the first iPhone model to feature the component.Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo was first to report that the volume and power buttons on this year's two high-end iPhone models will adopt a solid-state design, similar to the iPhone 7's home button, replacing a mechanical button design that physically depresses. Apple uses a similar method for its Mac trackpads, which do not physically move and simply mimic the feeling of being pressed with small vibrations.
The new iPhones will reportedly feature additional Taptic Engines on the internal left and right sides to provide physical feedback to users, making it seem as though they are pressing real buttons. The change means that the number of Taptic Engines in each iPhone will increase from one to three.
Barclays subsequently appeared to corroborate Kuo's report, saying that Apple supplier Cirrus Logic may have hinted at iPhone 15 Pro models getting haptic buttons in 2023 – something Kuo later noted with specific mention of Cirrus Logic benefiting from Apple orders to add more Taptic Engines this year. Analyst Jeff Pu has similarly said that the iPhone 15 Pro models will feature solid-state volume and power buttons with haptic feedback thanks to two extra Taptic Engines, meaning that there seems to be a growing consensus among analysts about the change.
Last year, Apple stressed that enabling iOS 16's "keyboard haptics" feature could drain battery life when enabled, and the feature is off by default. Any hardware or software feature on an iPhone obviously consumes battery life, but the fact that Apple felt it was worth explicitly mentioning for keyboard haptic feedback may indicate that the additional power the Taptic Engine uses is relatively significant. Recent reports suggest that Apple could use a new ultra-low energy microprocessor to handle these functions independently, which could help mitigate the feature using excessive battery life.
The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are expected to retain traditional clickable volume and power buttons. The iPhone 15 Pro models are also rumored to feature a titanium frame, a USB-C port, new Sony image sensors, periscope telephoto camera technology, 8GB of memory, a 3nm "A17 Bionic" chip, and more.
